Random thoughts of a Birmingham-based political junkie and party hack, Labour member and activist. And a Councillor for the City of Birmingham, representing Acocks Green ward.

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Brave new world

Congratulations to Birmingham City Council for getting something right - they live-streamed the full council meeting this afternoon. Laugh a minute it was not, but it is an important step in opening up the proceedings of the council to genuine public scrutiny. It isn't important whether it is watched, just that it can be watched by those who want to see our elected members in action. The presentation is basic in the extreme, the video quality patchy, but that isn't the point. Top marks to the Birmingham Council media team and to the councillors who finally made it possible. All a far cry from Wales, where they do things differently there.

Even a staggering drunk will take an occasional step in the right direction. If you really want to see how serious this council is take a look at they have complied the national gov's request that councils open up their monthly expense data in a machine readable format.

PDF files that are not machine readable, no department detail, no expense explanation and not even a full company name for the recipient but instead some sort of 1985 computer filename style abbreviation.